Union officials say the gap between the two sides is too wide to reach a compromise. About 25,000 union drivers are striking over minimum wage rules.
SEOUL: South Korea will meet striking truckers for more negotiations as concerns rise over shortages of petrol, pricier groceries and economic damage, and the government-invoked law forcing 2,500 cement industry drivers back to work.
Union officials told Reuters the gap between the two sides is too wide to reach a compromise. About 25,000 union drivers are striking over minimum wage rules.
It is the second strike in less than six months and is causing daily losses of an estimated 300 billion won (US$224mil or RM1bil), disrupting industrial activity in Asia’s fourth-largest economy, which is set to slump next year.
As of Tuesday, 21 petrol stations had run dry, the industry ministry said. Petrol stations nationwide had an average of about eight days’ supply as they secured stock before the strike, but stations with high turnover in the Seoul metropolitan area are experiencing shortages.
Out of 985 construction sites nationwide operated by 46 construction companies that submitted reports on Tuesday, work at 59%, or 577 sites, had been suspended because of a lack of supplies.
President Yoon Suk-yeol on Tuesday called the drivers’ demands “unreasonable” and said the government would take “every possible measure” to end the strike.
Union leaders have been angered by the government’s “start work” directive, which requires drivers to get back on the road, saying that the move was “unconstitutional” and that they would take legal action against the order.
If cement transport workers do not comply with the start-work order, the government can suspend their transport licences for 30 days, then revoke them. — Reuters
